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Leading consultant urologist invited to Buckingham Palace

Professor Naeem Soomro - a leading consultant urologist at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital - was invited to a reception at Buckingham Palace on 14th February to honour those from the Commonwealth who have made a significant contribution to society.

Professor Soomro was greeted by the Queen, Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and other members of the cabinet.

Professor Naeem Soomro meets the Queen at Buckingham Palace

The reception offered an opportunity to recognise people of Commonwealth heritage who have made a positive contribution to business, community and culture in the United Kingdom.

The Commonwealth is an international organisation, spanning every geographic region, religion and culture. During Her Majesty's reign the organisation has grown from just seven nations to 53 members and now represents over 2.4 billion people.

Professor Soomro said: "It was an honour to have been invited to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen not only for me personally, but also for our institution and the North East as a whole.

"I believe the invite was in recognition of the wonderful work we have done here in Newcastle, with the delivery and adoption of robotic surgery.

"I was proud to represent all the surgeons, nurses, robotic theatre staff, the Newcastle Surgical Training Centre and the Newcastle Hospitals's management who have supported us all along to make this possible."

Professor Soomro was appointed as a consultant urologist at the Freeman Hospital in 1998 and is currently the clinical lead.

He has spearheaded the development and delivery of complex minimally invasive urological surgery in Newcastle which is now a recognised leader in the field of robotic surgery, not only in urology but a number of other specialties. In fact the Newcastle Hospitals offers robotic surgery in more clinical fields than any other hospital in Europe.

Professor Soomro is also a leading light in the training of minimally invasive surgery across the UK and Europe.